Walking into a spacious office, Li Tu saw five Portuguese sitting behind a semicircular desk. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 After confirming Li Tu's identity and origin, the chairman of the council headed by info asked:

"I'm the chairman of the council, Mr. Litu, why are you buying our artillery?"

Li Tu already had a countermeasure in his heart, and said: "In order to deal with the Dutch!" ”

Hearing Li Tu's words, the five members of the Standing Committee of the Council were a little surprised and interested in Li Tu. One of the Standing Committee members, leaning back in his chair, straightened up and asked, "Why are you dealing with the Dutch?" ”

"My fleet runs the Zhangzhou Japan route. This route passes through Xiaoliuqiu. And the Dutch have been based in Penghu and Dayuan all these years, plundering merchant ships on my routes. My fleet was plundered by the Dutch, and I was able to defeat them with artillery bought from Japan! ”

Hearing Li Tu's words, several members of the Standing Committee looked at each other a few times and exchanged emotions.

"As far as I know," said Litu, "two years ago the Dutch had attacked Macau in an attempt to take the city and monopolize the East Asian-European trade, but were repelled by the valiant Portuguese warriors. The Dutch not only robbed me, but also robbed the merchant ships of Macao on the Manila route to Macao. The enemy of my enemy is my friend! If Macao sells me cannons, my cannons will be aimed at the Dutch warships. Every time my cannon bombards the Dutch pirate ship, the pressure on Macau is an inch less! ”

Several members of the Standing Committee were a little moved when they heard this, and they whispered a few words to exchange views, and finally the chairman came out and asked: "Mr. Litu, what you said is very reasonable, but how can we believe that you are the enemy of the damned Dutch?" ”

Seeing that the Standing Committee members were already moved, Li Tu said happily: "I have some good things on my ship, I will bring them to you to see, and you will believe me." However, it will take some time, so please wait. ”

Li Tu turned around and said a few words to his entourage Tang Wenzhong. Tang Wenzhong ran out with five people. Two quarters of an hour later, Tang Wenzhong walked into the office with three bound Dutch captives.

These captives were captured by the pirates on their return trip from Japan last year.

Seeing the three tall Dutch captives, the five Standing Committee members all showed resentful expressions. The Dutch came from behind, constantly invading the Portuguese in East Asia, plundering the Portuguese merchant ships, and shaking the aging colonial empire of the Portuguese, and the hatred between the two countries was extraordinary.

"This is the Dutch I captured when I defeated the Dutch pirates near Xiaoliuqiu, and I heard that Macao used Dutch captives as hard labor to build castles, so I gave them to you!"

Seeing the three Dutch captives, the council had fully believed Litu. Hearing that Li Tu was willing to hand over the captives to himself, the Portuguese felt very relieved.

Seeing this, Xiao Bu Garao, who was standing on the side, said loudly: "Distinguished members of the council, everything that this Ming man Li Tu said is completely credible. He was an enemy of the Dutch, our friend. After a pause, Bugarao said, "Our standard cannon is only sold for five hundred taels in China, but it costs one thousand five hundred taels to sell it to Mr. Li Tu. The tariff on the weapons of this batch of cannons alone will cost the city administration of Macao 8,000 taels of silver, which is a good deal, honorable members. ”

Hearing Bugarao's words, several members of the council had no opinions, and sat in their positions with relaxed expressions, looking at Li Tu with interest. After a few words with the Standing Committee members, Ricardo, the chairman of the council, said loudly: "Mr. Litu, thank you for handing over the captives to us, you are our friend. After unanimous discussion by the Standing Committee, we have decided to allow the Bugarao Cannon Foundry to sell guns to you. ”

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At the end of August, Litu's new ship was built.

The new Fukufu is 60% larger than a medium-sized Fukuship like the Zaixing, with a displacement of 5 to 600 tons, which can be regarded as a Dafukuship. The cost of each ship is 6,000 taels, and the hull is 12 zhang long and 2 zhang wide. The ship still has four decks, but instead of a watertight cabin structure, ribs are used as supports in the transverse structure. The ribs were densely laid, and with the addition of a one-foot-thick hull, the structural strength of the ship was greatly increased, so that the new Fukufu was able to be armed with large-caliber guns. The three-storey stern has been lowered to a single floor, and the bottom has been redesigned to improve the ship's streamlining. The ship has a three-mast and uses Western-style soft sails. On the middle mast there were three sylvests, and on the masts at both ends there were sails and spinnakers in addition to the schooners.

Without watertight cabins, all the cabins are connected. On the second deck, the equipment for cooking rice was reduced, and eight large gun emplacements with staggered canine teeth were added, four on each side. There was also a gun emplacement in the bow and aft towers, and the ship's bedroom was moved from the aft building to the third deck.

Loaded the cannons bought from Macao onto the new ship. Instead of fixing the guns to the deck, Litu made a four-wheeled gun carriage to place the guns on the gun carriage and tie the gun carriage to the deck with cables. Because the space of the ship is limited, this arrangement can shorten the displacement of the cannon when firing, and the elasticity of the cable can also allow the cannon to bounce back.

Litu test-fired a few rounds on the ship. The sixteen-pounder cannon was deafening, but the new ship only shook a little in the waves under such a recoil test, and there were no problems at all with its construction.

This new ship has been improved with the most advanced technology in the West in this era. Western technology and Eastern wisdom have been fused together to create this new type of Fufu. In terms of maneuverability, tonnage, and firepower, this new type of ship was enough to compete with the large ships of the Dutch and Spanish in East Asia.

The new ships were put into use, and Li Tu was in a good mood, naming the two new ships Shouyi and Huoyuan, and making Shouyi the flagship. He put gunners and sailors on board and drove them out of the bay every day for training.

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At the beginning of September, Li Tu sent a silver ticket of 2,000 taels to the magistrate of Zhangpu County. After being recommended by the county order of Zhangpu County, Li Tu visited the prefect of Zhangzhou again and gave a silver ticket of 2,000 taels. Now that Li Tu's fleet is getting bigger and bigger, it is no longer enough to bribe the prefect, and the prefect also needs to be dotted.

On the side of the thousands of households in Liuao, Li Tu also sent a thousand taels of silver. Li Tu also asked Zhou Pingde of Qianhu to introduce 30 craftsmen who could make bird guns, and sent them to the blacksmith shop in Deyuan City to make Minny rifles and expand the scale of the blacksmith shop.

Li Tu asked Xiao Xiangui to help with the purchase. Now that Li Tu's industry is big, Xiao Xiangui's interests are all tied to Li Tu, and Xiao Xiangui has almost become half of Li Tu's subordinates. As long as Xiao Xiangui is not allowed to put himself in danger, he will have no complaints and will be busy for Li Tu. By the time Li Tu finished his work, Xiao Xiangui had already bought the goods.

Six ships procured 123,000 taels of silver and prepared to sail for Japan.

On the seventh day of the ninth month, riding the southeast wind, Li Tu sacrificed to the Virgin Mary and prepared to set sail. After Li Tu's sacrifice was finished, Xiao Xiangui came up and said:

"The owner doesn't know yet, Li Dan is dead!"